It has been revealed that a serial 999 caller in the South West called the service 1,000 times in the last 12 months, and an ambulance was dispatched to their address 212 times.

They are one of 2,000 people classed as a frequent caller in the South West, and for the worst offender that means calling the 999 emergency number up to three times a day.

As reported by BBC Radio Cornwall, the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) has one of the most prolific frequent callers in the country.

Dialling 999 (Image: Getty Images)

The service said that while some callers have viable reasons for their frequent calls, others are blocking the line and stopping ambulances from reaching people who could be in a life threatening condition.

A spokeswoman for SWASFT told the BBC frequent callers make up one in 13 callers to the service.

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To be classed as a frequent caller you need to call five times a month or 12 times over three months from the same private address or number.

Frequent callers can have a serious impact on the ambulance service meaning 10 times per shifts, ambulance call handlers are having to deal with that serial caller’s issues when they could be taking a call from someone in need of an ambulance.

Paramedics attend an incident

One ambulance call handler from South Central Ambulance service told the BBC: “We might get 20 to 30 calls from frequent callers in a night. If you are busy and stacking calls, it means a line is being blocked for someone in a life emergency situation.

“If you have calls waiting it takes a long time to triage them in the same way you deal with any other calls.”

SWASFT said 60 hours a day were wasted on dealing with frequent callers.

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Paul Jefferies, Hampshire area manager at South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust, told the BBC that frequent callers impact on the service’s ability to do its job properly.

He said: “To put it in context we deal with 540,000 calls a year and about 10 per cent of those calls are from frequent callers. It does have an impact on our ability to dispatch an ambulance to someone in real need of our services. It means our resources might not be available for a cardiac arrest.”

The South Western Ambulance Service

While ambulance service all agree that many frequent callers do need to make so many calls because of the conditions they suffer from requiring complex healthcare needs, or because they are at the end of their lives, but many frequent callers suffer from mental health issues and have various social care needs or alcohol and drugs related problems, and those needs are not being met by the various services.

A spokeswoman for mental health charity Mind said: “It means that the services being offered is not fit for purpose and does not meet the needs of such individuals.”